Holy Grail: New Remyelination Therapies Trials
Pheno Therapeutics has entered into an agreement with UCB to develop new therapies aimed at remyelination to treat multiple sclerosis (MS) and other neurological disorders that are characterized by the loss of myelin, the companies announced.
“This license allows us to accelerate a promising drug target towards clinical development,” Fraser Murray, PhD, CEO of Pheno Therapeutics, said in a company press release.
The myelin sheath is a fatty covering that wraps around nerve fibers and helps them to transmit electrical signals, a bit like rubber insulation around a copper wire.
In MS, inflammation in the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) causes damage to the myelin sheath, impairing the nerve’s ability to send electrical signals. The consequent neurological dysfunction ultimately gives rise to the symptoms of MS.
While there are many approved treatments for MS, all of them work to slow the disease’s progression by reducing the inflammatory attack that drives the disease. There is no available therapy that can promote remyelination — the repair of damaged myelin and production of new myelin.
This is seen by many as a “holy grail” of MS treatment given that, theoretically, remyelination could directly repair damage and ease symptoms, not just delay disease progression.
https://multiplesclerosisnewstoday.c...pies-ms-trial/
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